Building tradespersons such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, cabinet installers and the like are often faced with the problem of locating the position of the wall studs or other installed infrastructure behind the installed sheetrock or wallboard forming the wall surface. Such walls are usually formed of the wall studs positioned on 16 inches centers to which are fastened such wall materials as sheetrock or plywood of various thicknesses ranging from ⅛ inch to ¾ inch. After the finishing and painting of the wall, the fasteners, and therefore the wall stud positions, or other installed infrastructure are not visually detectable.
At the present time there are several commonly used methods to locate the position of wall studs. The most fundamental method is to tap the wall with a hammer while listening and attempting to sense a relatively firm sound which occurs when the hammer is tapped directly over a wall stud.
A second and somewhat related method is to drive a nail through the wallboard at positions spaced along a horizontal line until a wall stud is encountered. The former method does not require physical damage to the wall but the latter method is more accurate in indicating the presence and center position of the wall stud.
A third method utilizes a so-called stud finder consisting primarily of a magnet supported in a manner to pivot in the presence of a magnetic material. This finder is moved along the wall surface until it aligns with the head of a fastener holding the wallboard on the stud. The location of these fasteners can be a tedious process. In addition, there is no assurance that the fastener is centrally located on the stud thereby rendering no indication of the actual center line of the stud.
A fourth method is a hand held electronic stud finder that through a capacitance circuit or other means such as a simple radar system senses changes in density of the wall construction and displays the sensor results with a light, audible signal, and/or a marking device showing the edge of the hidden feature. This type of device shows all density changes including minor construction defects and relies on the user to mark the edges of the density changes on the wall to reliably interpret the sensor results. The information shown on the sensors display is real time and is as a consequence transient requiring the user to interpret and record the sensor results usually by manually marking the wall surface.
Other related and combined devices will additionally detect hidden wiring and plumbing features and display the results with a distinct light, audible signal, and/or a marking device enabling the user to locate the hidden wall feature.
Thus it can be seen that previous attempts to locate wall studs or other features have been tedious and time-consuming as well as being frequently inaccurate and only providing the user with information representing a limited area of the wall that is only available in real time and becomes no longer available when the sensor is moved, removed or turned off.
It is the purpose of this invention to provide an improved sensor with a more useful display system for locating and conveying the position of wall studs or similar braces or structural supports or hidden wiring and plumbing features behind wallboard within a wall to user(s).